


Where I should be

by Geritashipper123



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Children of Earth Fix-It, Episode: s03e03 Gridlock, Episode: s03e04 Children of Earth - Day 4, Fluff, Ianto is amazing, Ianto loves Jack so much, M/M, Mild Angst, Post-Episode: s04e17-e18 The End of Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-27
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-30 02:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16755964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geritashipper123/pseuds/Geritashipper123
Summary: Ianto Jones meets the Doctor exactly twice- once to make a request, and once to have it fufilled





	Where I should be

**Author's Note:**

> I PROMISE SPIRK IS COMING SOON I HAVE GOOD THINGS IN THE WORKS I S W E A R but in the meantime, this idea hasnt left me alone in forever. SO. 
> 
> Dedicated to whoever wrote that throwaway line about Jack being the face of boe. love my big stupid head.

The first time Ianto meets the Doctor, it’s through a screen. Daleks are fucking with the world and isn’t  _ that  _ just doing wonders for Ianto’s PTSD? 

Still, the doctor is there, all wild hair and messy suits that make Ianto cringe. Especially the shoes- his dad had been positively awful, but he’d always made sure Ianto had a proper pair of dress shoes for whenever he wore a suit, and the singular time he’d attempted to wear trainers with a suit his dad had… 

Not the time, or the place. Nope. Daleks are attacking, Jack is gone again. 

But then, miracle of miracles, _J_ _ ack comes back.  _

And not even 4 months later, like the last time. A few hours after the battle has been thoroughly won, Jack runs into the tourist office, stops short when he sees the Dalek, and screeches their names, and wraps him and Gwen in tight hugs with kisses on foreheads.  _ Relief  _ radiates from all 3 of them, and Rhys comes to the hub that night because none of them can let eachother go. 

They end up crashing on the floor together, Jack’s back against Gwen’s with Rhys’ arm under Gwen’s head and Ianto spooned in Jack’s arms. 

He wakes in the middle of the night with a strangled noise, and is  _ shocked  _ he doesn’t wake anyone up. Jack shifts a little, lets out something close to a whine when Ianto crawls out of Jack’s arms. Ianto presses his pillow into Jack for Jack to snuggle, and shoves his feet in his shoes and grabs the greatcoat off the hanging tree in Jack’s office. He needs air. 

He walks up to the plass, sits on the bench outside the tourist office and sighs, putting his head in his hands. He almost wishes he had a cigarette- he hasn’t smoked since the  _ last  _ time Jack left him, since the night Jack came back, found him smoking and chucked his cigarettes off a roof. Jack had spent a lot of time and effort breaking Ianto’s nicotine addiction, twice now, but since Owen and Tosh Ianto can feel himself longing for it again. But, no. He hasn’t let Jack down thus far, he won’t tonight. 

Ianto inhales, exhales, and looks up at the stars. They’d won the day, again. 

“So  _ you’re  _ him, huh?” 

Ianto jumps, instinctively goes for a gun holster that isn’t there. The man standing over him cocks his head to the side, and Ianto belatedly recognizes him. 

“The Doctor,” He says, and it isn’t a question. The man nods, shoving his hands in his pockets, “that’s me. And you’re Ianto Jones of Torchwood fame! May I sit?”

Ianto didn’t know about  _ fame,  _ really, but nudges over so he could join him on the bench. 

“A bit late for you to be up, no?” the Doctor asks, and Ianto shrugs, leaning his elbows on his knees again. “Nightmares. Stared down a Dalek’s vaporizer for the second time in my life today, you know.”

“The second time?”

“Canary Wharf.” Ianto says flatly, and the Doctor cringed. 

“I didn’t- I’m sorry.” The Doctor mumbles, although Ianto isn’t sure what he was apologizing for- for bringing it up, or for the battle happening in the first place. He shrugs again. 

They lapse into silence, until Ianto finally says “you’re here to take him again, aren’t you?”

It’s the Doctor’s turn to shrug. “I don’t honestly think it’ll work. He cares about you far too much to leave now-” Ianto bites back a reply, the typical response of it not being like that, mainly because he isn’t sure  _ what  _ it’s like at this point. He has no idea where he and Jack stand outside of “the sex is good and consensual and we’re both enjoying ourselves” which is  _ fine,  _ their both adults. It doesn't stop Ianto from wanting  _more,_ wanting some sort of definition or confiration- but it's fine, he'll take what he can get

“But I figured I’d try. I find myself down a companion.” the Doctor finishes, and Ianto can’t help a snort. “You’ve been down a companion before. You didn’t pick Jack then, why now?”

The Doctor sighs, looking properly ashamed. “Being around Jack is… weird. He’s a fixed point, a fact. Time warps  _ around  _ him, it isn’t  _ supposed  _ to do that. He’s…”

“Wrong?” Ianto interrupts, repeating what The Doctor had said to Jack before. The Doctor winces, “I deserve that, I know. It was wrong of me to say that.”

“It was wrong of you to abandon him, forget about him, and then call him wrong, yes.” Ianto agrees. The doctor gives him a sideways look “you really don’t like me, hm?”

“I worked for Torchwood London, in close contact with Yvonne Hartman. And then I watched her die. And then I watched the rest of my friends die. And then I watched Jack die,  _ repeatedly.  _ And, apologetic though you might be, most of that stuff is directly your fault.” 

Ianto knows he sounds bitter, but he can’t help it. He’s had the anti-doctor rhetoric beaten into him- at times  _ literally.  _ And the doctor just hums, like he agrees. 

“You don’t want Jack to come with me, do you?”

“I don’t want him to leave, no.” Ianto agrees. “But more than that, I don’t want Jack to get hurt. Sure he always comes back, but Jack doesn’t  _ deserve  _ to suffer, to die, just because he gets better. He doesn't deserve it anymore than someone who doesn’t get better.”

“Agreed,” the Doctor’s mouth twitches, “you know, Ianto Jones, I think I quite like you. Any chance  _ you’d  _ want to come with me? I guarantee I can have you back by morning.”

Ianto barks out a laugh in spite of himself. “I’m friends with doctor Jones, sir, I’ve heard horror stories about your piloting skills."

The Doctor’s gaze goes fond. “Ah Martha, always telling stories. That’s a no then?”

“It is,” Ianto nods, “unless you’re taking me somewhere I can fix Jack, it’s a no.” 

“Outside of taking you to his  _ death,  _ I don’t think I-”

Ianto freezes.    
There was something about the way the Doctor said it,  _ death.  _ He said it like a fact. Like it was final. 

“So,” He manages, voice noticeably more strangled, “he  _ will  _ die then? Permenantly?"

The Doctor gazes at him, nodding. “Everything  _ dies,  _ Ianto. Stars, planets, time lords, TARDISes, and supposedly immortal men alike. Everything has an end. Jack’s is a long way off, longer than usual, longer than even mine, but it’s there.”

“You say that like you know when it is.”

The Doctor suddenly looks sad- sad, and old. Like a man who had seen too much. Jack got the same look in his eyes, sometimes. 

“I think I do,” The Doctor says, “I think I've been there and before you ask- no, I can’t stop it. I can’t save him.”

“I don’t want you to.” Ianto says, shaking his head and leaning back on the bench, pulling Jack’s coat tighter around him and breathing in the scent. “I’m no fool, I know Jack acts like he’s accepted immortality but hasn’t. He deserves his rest  _ now,  _ but knowing he’ll get it someday… it’s nice. Thank you.”

The Doctor nods solemnly. “You’re a good man, Ianto Jones. I mean that. I can see why Jack loves you as much as he does.”

Ianto tenses again, because that’s the key word isn’t it?  _ Love.  _ Ianto has no idea if Jack loves him or not, especially the way Ianto loves him- because there has  _ never _ been any doubt in Ianto’s mind. Jack stays the nights with him, Jack takes him out for meals and dancing, Jack’s seen him in the mornings, jack’s held him through nightmares, Jack’s let Ianto see the dark places, Jack’s cared enough to make him quit smoking and worries about him when Ianto isn’t around. 

Jack Harkness is, without a doubt, the love of Ianto’s life. Ianto’s known that pretty much from the moment it stopped being a bit of fun and started being something a bit more. And someday, Ianto is going to die and leave him and Jack will continue on for an unnamed number of years. Ianto will be one of many loves of one of many of Jack’s lives. 

He wonders, idly, if any of them were with Jack when he…

“Will he be alone?” Ianto asks, because he hates it when Jack has to die alone, hates it even more when he has to wake up alone. He tries, but he can’t be there for all of them. 

The doctor shakes his head. “People are there, but not the people he wants to be there,” he explains, and the idea sneaks into Ianto’s mind without him noticing, and it takes hold of his entire soul and makes his heart clench. 

“Doctor,” Ianto manages, “that trip… can it be an IOU?”

The doctor looks intrigued, and Ianto explains what he wants. 

 

* * *

 

Ianto goes back inside after talking with the Doctor for another half hour. Gwen and Rhys are still dead to the world, but Jack is walking around, frowning. He sees Ianto, and the look fades. 

“I was wondering where you’d run off to,” He says, and the relief is back in his eyes, and Ianto regrets that Jack had to wake up alone after all that happened today. 

“Sorry,” Ianto says softly, shrugging off Jack’s coat to hand it to him. “I didn’t mean to be gone that long, but a Dalek appeared in my dreams and I really needed air.”

“You should have woken me.” Jack said, but there’s no condemnation in his voice, only soft understanding. He took his coat back, and kissed Ianto on the head. Ianto smiled a bit. 

”You needed the sleep. We all do.”

“And yet, here we are, not asleep.” 

“Clearly not.”

“Whatever will we do with ourselves for the next several hours until Gwen and Rhys wake up?” 

Ianto snorted, and Jack grinned at him, taking his arm and pulling him towards the office so they could head down to the bunker. 

Ianto stared at their clasped hands for a moment, then smiled and let himself be pulled along. 

He’d done the right thing. 

 

* * *

 

The second and final time Ianto meets the Doctor, it's three months after the first. Ianto is staring at an alien in a box.

From the moment they said action had been taken, Ianto knows this is his end. 

Jack runs out into the hall to shout orders, to try and save people, but all government buildings are secured against chemical attacks. No one would get out of here alive.

Not even him. 

Ianto stares at the tank the 456 were being held in. This is it, his final day. He’d never get to see his niece and nephew get older, he’d never get to meet Gwen’s baby, he’d never get married- this is his last day with Jack. He hadn’t even gotten three years with him. 

Silently, Ianto raises his gun. He feels angry, but it’s a detached sort of anger, mingled with acceptance. 

“If there’s a virus, there has to be an antivirus. Release it, Now!”

The 456 doesn’t. Jack joins him. They empty their guns against the bulletproof glass. The 456 starts… screaming. But Ianto is pretty sure it isn’t because of them. 

“What’s that sound, what’s- what’s it doing?” Jack asked. Ianto blinked once, twice. And then, apparently, the shock wears off for Jack, because he grabs Ianto’s shoulders, a horrified look coming onto his face. 

“We have to get you out of here,” he says, “I can survive anything, but you can’t-”

“It’s too late,” Ianto says, saddened, oh god he’s gonna die, “I’ve breathed the air.”

“You said,” the 456 rumble, “you would  _ fight.” _

Jack tears his gaze away as if it hurts him to do so. “Well I take it back, alright!” Jack shouts, screams, rages, He’s going to kill them for this, Ianto can tell.  “I take it all back  _ but not him!”  _

_ Aw, Jack.  _ Ianto knows he isn’t worth  _ every child on the planet,  _ but the sentiment is nice. Every breath burns like fire in his lungs and oh, the ceiling is moving or maybe that’s just  _ him- _

_ “No!  _ No, no no no,  _ Ianto-” _

Jack catches him, always catches him when he falls, and curls a hand around his cheek, thumb pressing against the scratch there- It stings, which is probably Jack’s intention, to keep him awake. 

Ianto appreciates it. He has to survive a bit longer. 

“It’s all my fault,” Jack says, and Ianto  _ desperately  _ wants to reach up and wipe away the tears in the corners of Jack’s eyes, but his arms feel like lead. “No it’s not,” he says instead, but Jack shushes him. 

“Don’t speak, save your breath…”

Ah Jack, still trying to get Ianto out of this. It won’t work. Ianto forces himself to keep his eyes open, to remember Jack as he is now- Jack’s a beautiful crier, or he would be if his tears didn’t make Ianto’s heart hurt so much. 

“I- I  _ love you  _ I-”

It’s the first time he’s said it, and Jack looks stricken.  _ “Don’t.”  _ he chokes out, and for a moment Ianto’s heart breaks- why can’t Jack just say it back, he’s dying for christ sakes-

But no, he can see it in Jack’s eyes. Jack isn’t saying he doesn’t love Ianto, he’s telling ianto not to say it, not to make this real, not to make this their goodbye. 

Jack isn’t ready to lose him, and for a moment Ianto feels guilty about what he’s planned to do. 

His eyes must have slipped closed, because Jack’s thumb presses into the wound on his cheek again, sending a flare of pain through his skin. 

“Ianto,” Jack says, that beautifully Americanized pronunciation of his name that sounds like a Y instead of an I, “Ianto stay with me. Stay with me,  _ please.  _ Just stay with me  _ stay with me please!” _

Jack’s voice cracks, and Ianto opens his eyes to see he’s fully crying now. He shifts, trying to reach up.  _ Where’s the- _

“It was good, yeah?” he forces himself to say, trying to stay awake. 

“Yeah.” Jack tells him, and Ianto swallows, “don’t forget me.”

Jack looks horrified at the thought. He starts to say “never could-“ 

-but Ianto can’t hear it over the grinding sound. He smiles- 

-his ride is here.

Jack’s head snaps up, the TARDIS materializes next to them, and she’s barely solid before the doctor jumps out of the doors. 

“Jack!”

“Doctor!” Jack sounds relieved, and Ianto feels sick because oh god, Jack thinks he’s here to save everyone. Jack starts climbing to his feet, pulling Ianto with him. “Doctor, thank-”

“Jack, you have to give me Ianto.” The Doctor says firmly, “give me him, now.”

“Thank you,” Jack sobs.  _ “Thank you.” _

Ianto feels himself passed to the other man’s arms, and they start limping back to the TARDIS. 

“Wait!” Jack shouts, “what about everyone else, what about the-”

Ianto forces his eyes open so he can see the stricken look on the Doctor’s face. “I’m sorry, jack,” he says sadly, “But this is a fixed point.”

_ “What?”  _ Jack blinks, “but you’re… you’re saving Ianto.”

_ Just let him think it,  _ Ianto thinks,  _ let him die in peace.  _ But the doctor shakes his head, and Jack’s face takes on a horrified look. 

“Jack,  _ please,  _ if you ever trusted me, trust me  _ now.  _ I’m doing this on his orders.”

“Ianto?  _ What-  _ doc, please, You did this to me, you made me who I am, you  _owe me!_ Please,  _ save him!” _

“I  _ can’t, J _ ack!” The Doctor says, “I can’t! But I  _ can  _ take him where he wants to go, and it's somewhere you'll want him to be! But I need to leave  _ right now  _ or  he won’t survive the trip! I can explain later!”

“But-  _ Ianto-” _

“Jack,” Ianto croaks, forcing the words out even though his throat  _ burns,  _ “jack, I want this. I’m sorry.”

“Ianto,  _ please,  _ let him save you, let him save you so we can-”

“Jack,” Ianto interrupts, sagging in the Doctor’s arms, “Jack, if you don’t trust him,  _ trust me.  _ Do you trust me?”

Jack stares at him, tears streaming down his cheeks. His knees buckle, and he looks like a lost child, alone and scared, and Ianto almost loses his nerve. Jack is dying too, and he’s gonna die alone.

“I trust you with my life, Ianto.” Jack breathes, and Ianto nods. “Good. I’ll- I’ll see you soon.”

Jack nods, Ianto nods, and the Doctor gets him into the TARDIS.

“The TARDIS will keep you alive,” the Doctor says. “Last chance to change your mind.”

“Just take me.” Ianto croaks, “ _ please.” _

The Doctor nods, and mutters “next stop, New New York.”

 

* * *

  
  


_ “Doctor,” Ianto managed, “that trip… can it be an IOU?” _

_ The Doctor looked intrigued, and Ianto explained what he wanted.  _

_ “Jack never deserves to die alone, no one does. But when he dies for the final time, especially, he should be surrounded by people he loves.” _

_ The Doctor gave him a once over “you want to be there when he dies.”  _

_ “Yes. No. Sort of.” Ianto sighed, looking down. “I… I want to be there, but I also… I don’t want to watch him die. Ever. But for Jack, for him to not be alone…” _

_ “You know,” the Doctor said lightly, “I could just… make you immortal.” _

_ Ianto’s head snapped up “you’d do that? You’d make another fixed point in time?”  _

_ “I figure I owe it to him. You’re right, he doesn’t deserve to be alone.” _

_ Ianto could admit- he considered it. A lifetime with Jack. A damn eternity with Jack. It was alluring, so alluring-  _

_ But Jack thought of his immortality as a curse, one he wouldn’t wish on an enemy, much less his whatever-Ianto-was. Jack would be so angry if Ianto accepted this.  _

_ Plus, the small insecure voice inside Ianto whispered that maybe, Jack wouldn’t want to spend eternity with Ianto. Why would he? Ianto was nothing special.  _

_ “No,” Ianto shook his head, “no, I’m not… I’m not brave enough for that. Besides, Jack would kill me. Or you. Or both of us.”  _

_ “True,” the Doctor sighed. “Well, I could take you now but… who knows what having that knowledge, those details, might do to you? You might mention them to jack, on accident or while drunk…” _

_ “I could Retcon myself.” Ianto said, and the doctor looked at him. “Would you, though? I’m not trying to doubt your character, Ianto, but can you honestly say that after knowing how he dies, you’d forget it?”  _

_ Ianto couldn’t.  _

_ “So that leaves one option,” Ianto said, “you come get me, I go to where Jack is, I watch him die, I don’t come back.”  _

_ “That seems to be the best way,” he nodded. “But Jack is loyal. Just judging from what I’ve seen, I can tell he’ll stay with you until you die. Could you really abandon him?” _

_ “No,” Ianto shook his head, “you’ll just have to get me right as I die.”  _

_ “You’d die together.” _

_ “Exactly.” _

 

* * *

 

The TARDIS lands smoothly, Ianto coughing from his spot on the floor. His entire chest was burning. 

“We’re here.” The Doctor says softly. “I can’t stay for long. My past self will be here soon. I’ll come back for your body.” 

“What’ll you tell Jack?” Ianto asks as the Doctor helps him to his feet. 

“That you died where you want to be. He’s going to hate me forever for this.”

“You were willing,” Ianto says, feeling a bone deep tiredness. 

“Maybe I should leave your body here-“

“No,” Ianto coughs, “I have a family, they deserve closure. I wanna be buried under a tree.” 

“Of course, I’ll make sure it happens.” The Doctor says, gently, like a parent calming a fussing child, “I’ll tell him I tried to save you or something.”

“He’d like that,” Ianto coughs hard, blood splattering onto his fist. 

“Do you want something for the pain?” He asks. and Ianto nods. The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and touches it to his chest. Suddenly, his entire torso is numb. Ianto stands straighter, and the two head to the door.

“I should warn you,” the Doctor says, “he looks… different.” 

“Noted,” Ianto mutters, and then they leave. 

Ianto is assaulted by a god awful smell, followed by what feels like a tendril in his mind- a telepath is in the area, feeling his mind, feeling surprised, feeling-

_ Remembering delicious coffee, a beautiful smile, catching the pteranodon, so smart, so witty, so beautiful, his angel, his love, his lost without, his always, his light his- _

_ Ianto. _

“Jack,” Ianto whispered,  _ “Jack.” _

The Doctor leads him forward, and the Jack-sense in his head  _ cries,  _ happy and disbelieving. 

“Jack, Jack I’m here, I’m really-“

Ianto falls short, stopping as the round a corner. 

There is a very large head in a jar. The skin is pale, but the eyes are open- big as serving trays, blue and-

_ “Jack?”  _ Ianto breathes, then is cut off as he coughs again. 

_ Ianto.  _ The Jack-sense breathes again, as the head blinks his eyes.  _ How- _

“Ianto decided no one should be alone when they die.” The Doctor explained, “he had me bring him here-“

Another memory flashes in Ianto’s head.  _ Ianto, cold and dying in his arms, fear fear fear, god no, not yet, not yet, can’t watch him die yet, don’t leave- the Doctor showing up! Hope! The Doctor can save- but no, the Doctor won’t save him, he can see it in his eyes, where is Ianto going, “see you soon-“ _

_ Waking up to Ianto’s body next to him, cold and blue and dead, empty empty empty, screaming in his soul  _ **_no-_ **

“Jack,” Ianto pants, reaching for the jar. The Doctor helps him forward and sits him down so he can lean against the Jar. 

“I have to go,” the Doctor said. “I have to go,  _ now.  _ My past self will be here soon. Jack-“ his eyes glisten with tears, and the sense of Jack-ness feels… forgiveness. Gratitude even.

“I’m sorry, old friend, I’m sorry I did this to you. I hope this helps make up for it, at least a little.”

_ Thank you,  _ J ack thinks, loud and clear. The Doctor nods, and disappears. 

Ianto coughs again, shivering. The Jack-sense in his head feels concerned, and Ianto swallows “I’m still dying, Jack. I’m sorry I- I wanted to die with you. Selfish, I-“

_ Not selfish,  _ jack thinks,  _ kind. Ianto, my Ianto, my Ianto- _

Jack projects a particular feeling, and Ianto finally lets himself cry for the first time since he realized he was dying. 

“I love you too,” Ianto gasps, shifting so his forehead is pressed against the glass, eyes closed. “I love you so much, you’re the love of my life,  _ Jack-“ _

The head in the jar shifts, and Ianto feels more than sees his chin bump against the glass near Ianto’s clammy forehead. 

_ Glad you're here. Don’t want anyone else. Never been anyone like you.  _

And Jack shows him.

_ Years of grief, Black inky grief, Gwen tries to help and makes it worse, lovers, scaring off so many because he cries Ianto’s name when he comes, loving again, eventually, but not like Ianto, never like Ianto-  _

“You remembered me,” Ianto breathes, and Jack  _ scoffs.  _ As if insulted by the notion of forgetting Ianto. 

Ianto opens his eyes and smiles, and Jack smiles too, weakly. Their both dying, but it's... it's okay.

“the Face of Boe! _ ” _

Ianto turns his head slightly to see the doctor, the same one who just left, staring at them both. And next to him is…

“Is that a cat?” He manages, and the cat-lady hisses, stalking towards him with her claws out.

_ Don’t!  _ Jack shouts, Loud enough to make Ianto’s oxygen-deprived head throb, and he groaned. Jack hushes him in his mind, gently apologizing and soothing him. 

“Who are you?” The cat-lady-  _ novice hame,  _ Jack supplies, and Ianto couldn’t really care- hisses, actually  _ hisses  _ at him.

_ He’s someone special,  _ jack says,  _ I want him here. _

“You’re dying,” The Doctor says sadly. Jack sends waves of affirmation, acceptance, even  _ joy,  _ because he isn’t alone, and he’s finally going to rest.

Ianto coughs again, harder- whatever the TARDIS did to keep him alive on the way here, it’s wearing off. 

Novice Hame says something about protecting her in his smoke, protecting her from a virus,  _ at least I was able to protect someone I cared about from a virus.  _

Ianto shakes his head. “I don’t mind. It’s not a bad death, y’know?”

_ Any death of yours is a bad death  _ Jack chastises

He drifts listlessly, as the Doctor speaks and works, trying to save the people Jack tells him are down below. 

Then, starts to groan.  _ Doctor, my people- I give them my last-  _

Ianto shifts, looking up at him. The glass around Jack starts to crack and fracture.

“Jack?” Ianto croaks. 

_ Shhh… No one calls me Jack anymore, darling,  _ Jack tells him,  _ everyone calls me the face of boe.  _

“That’s apt,” Ianto mutters, and Jack laughs again. And then, the jar cracks, and Jack slides forward. Ianto crawls forward over broken glass to lay next to hi

Whatever the doctor did to numb his pain, it was working wonders, because everything felt soft, and gentle, he felt sleepy, but he tried to fight it- he wanted to stay with Jack, until Jack fell asleep.

“Doctor!” Hame shrieks, But Ianto doesn’t care. 

He and Jack are going now. 

“Tell me a story, Jack,” he mutters

Jack gently shows him how he got here, how he became the leader of a city, how he protected people.

Ianto smiled, eyes fluttering shut. He drifted, drifted. 

The last thing he hears is Jack’s voice, telling him he loved him,  _ you are not alone… _

 

* * *

 

Ianto wakes up somewhere familiar- a small bed, wrapped up with someone he loved, a dark room- the bunker, he’s in Jack’s bunker, Jack’s bed, and Jack’s-

“Jack!” Ianto says, eyes flying open to lock with Jack’s. Jack is crying, staring at him like a blind man seeing the sun. 

_ “Ianto,”  _ jack breathes, “Ianto you’re here, it wasn’t a hallucination-“

“We’re dead,” Ianto says bluntly, and Jack laughs, cupping Ianto’s face and kissing him. 

He hears Myfanwy screech above them, and no doubt Owen and Tosh were working out there. But for now, Ianto kisses Jack until his toes curled, and his body reacts. 

Jack pulls away, not letting go of Ianto’s face. 

“I’ve said it to an image of you, to your grave, and in your head. Think it’s time I say it properly-“ 

Jack opens his eyes, and stares at Ianto with an intense look. 

“Ianto Jones,” Jack says softly, “I love you. I love you more than I’ve loved anyone. Stay with me forever?”

“I love you too, Jack,” Ianto whispers, “and forever sounds perfect.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come check me out on tumblr www.flamingbluepanda.tumblr.com
> 
> And hey, im a broke college student, so if you don't mind buying me a Ko-fi i'd appreciate it http://ko-fi.com/flamingbluepanda
> 
> See ya!


End file.
